Madness
It was almost a month before there was any news of Potter. Amira cursed him for being so lazy that it took them a month to do anything. For reasons that she couldn't fathom, the trio decided to break into the Ministry of Magic and create a huge uproar while doing it.
She and Draco had settled into a quiet routine. They woke up and ran together. Then Draco made breakfast while Amira meditated, a technique that was helping her find more stability. After breakfast, she taught him how to get more in touch with his magic. He was coming a long way. He could now do wandless magic, only simple spells, but he was learning her technique to picking up new magic. It was much slower progress than she had made but it was something. She was incredibly proud of him.
For her part, she was barely using magic at all except to teach him, and to grow food. She grew a garden in every place that they landed. The magic was more stable and it was calmer. She grew fruits and vegetables, as well as flowers. She normally spent the half of the afternoons tending to it. Due to her magic, she was able to speed up the process of growing food and normally had a bountiful garden within hours.
They spent their other time exploring the countryside. They traveled through all sorts of towns and terrains. They rarely ever saw another person. They swam in rivers and ponds. Amira had a talent for making friends with the wildlife. .
They didn't go back to any Wizarding places, and instead tuned into PotterWatch for every episode to get their news.
The world outside their little bubble was falling apart. Hogwarts was now a militant Dark school. The Ministry was killing and imprisoning muggle borns. It was a bleak future if Potter and his gang didn't get their act together. The Order existed, but from the sounds of it, they could barely meet. They were barely alive, much less able to fight a war. Amira felt guilty that they weren't doing enough, but she could risk being killed before destroying the rest of the horcruxes. After that, she planned to be at every battle and raid until the Dark Lord showed up and she could finish things.
Finally, the news came through on PotterWatch one night. The Golden Trio had escaped the Ministry, but ruined their hideout in London in the process. Now, no one knew where they were.
"We need to think ahead," Draco complained, "Where would they go?"
"Has he ever been to his family's old house?" Amira asked suddenly, "Surely, he'll go there eventually."
Draco nodded.
"We could camp out there, or set wards to know if he goes there." he said.
"I'm sure the Dark Lord has thought of that already," Amira nodded, "But if we're staying there, we'd get to him first."
"Would the Dark Lord expect us to go there?" Draco asked.
"I think he thinks we would have fled the country like your parents," Amira disagreed.
After that, they set their detection wards and set up a campsite outside of Godric's Hallow. It made Amira nervous to stay in the same spot, but it was their best chance. As the fall turned to winter, it became more difficult for Amira.
Draco was doing super well. He was fit, healthy, and getting stronger magically. He was getting rest, but also having a purpose. He was the best that Amira had ever seen him. Amira on the other hand, was going downhill.
Her magic was growing, and it was wild. It was a thin line to walk between not letting it get pent up, and letting it take control. She started waking up in the night outside in her garden with plants growing over her head and going wild. Other times she woke up and she was on the floor of their room, clawing at herself and looking deranged. Her dreams were crazy and nonsensical, leading her to feel tired a lot. She struggled to keep food down, and her body was almost always sore.
The amount of magic that it took for her to lose control now was almost nothing. In the colder months, she'd tried to start a fire, and had almost gone off the rails. Draco had needed to hold her tightly and force her to calm down before she hurt herself.
She knew Draco was worried about her, and she was too. It wasn't just physical and magic, it was also her mind. She would lose hours simply sitting in one place and staring off. Her emotions jumped all over the place. She got scared by little noises and unexpected movements. Sometimes, she cried for no reason, and Draco held her helplessly. She felt like she was going crazy.
"I can't Draco, I can't do this," She wept one night.
"Just a few more months love, I've got you," Draco assured her. She felt like the biggest burden in the world. Something, or multiple things, were wrong every single day. He was always picking up the pieces of her falling apart. It made her feel guilty and worthless.
November turned into December and snow began to fall on the ground.
One night, Amira woke up outside. She was wearing barely any clothes, and she was sitting in the snow. Blood was trailing down her arms from self-inflicted scratches. She was so scared. She was so cold. The trees were hitting each other due to extreme wind. It was completely dark and she was all alone. Panic surged through her. She looked around and couldn't see their campsite. She could feel that she was beyond the wards.
She got up and ran. She didn't know where she was going. Nothing made sense. Her feet were bare, and they slipped when she hit ice. She went sprawling across the frozen pond.
Without thinking, she started to scream. Everything was so dark. There were shadows attacking her from under the ice and down from the trees. A fire would warm her up. But she couldn't. She couldn't do that. If she did that, she'd never stop, and she'd go insane. She hit the ice. And again. And again. Until it cracked. Her hands were aching. Her body was stone cold. It cracked again. Icy cold water began to surge up onto the ice. She stopped.
"AMIRA!"
She turned. She was sobbing. She could see Draco's figure running to her but the shadows were going to get him first. They were going to kill him. They were all going to die. They were already consuming her.
"Draco," she choked out. It was all going to end. She was dying, she was sure of it.
Draco had never been more scared for her. He'd woken to an empty bed, which wasn't exactly rare these days. He'd put a charm to alert him when she got up, but somehow, she always disabled it in her sleep. Luckily, she normally was just outside or still in the tent.
Today though, he'd stood up and heard her blood-curdling scream. He'd ran outside, grabbing his wand and his coat. He didn't see her anywhere, but followed her footsteps through the snow. He ran faster when he noticed blood staining a huge section of snow. He ran down a hill and saw her finally.
She was in the middle of a frozen pond. She was in one of his t-shirts and nothing else.
The ice was cracked around her, icy water was sloshing around her wildly, and she was crying and bleeding. He shouted for her. She turned, and he saw a face full of insane fear. She was looking around like she was mad. It was clearly a very intense episode. Normally, these didn't scare him, but she was in danger and he didn't know what she was going to do. They needed to get back to the wards.
He thought quickly and summoned the piece of ice that she was floating on. From there, he reached for her and hooked his arms under hers. She was soaking wet and freezing cold. Her skin was white except for where she was bleeding.
"Hey love," he said, trying to sound calm. He immediately began rushing back to the tent. She was sobbing and fighting against him. He held tight and didn't let her go. She was clearly out of her mind. He finally made it back into the tent and set her on the couch. Her lips were blue and she was shaking. He tied her hands together again with a warm wrap to stop her from hurting herself further. He also locked the tent flap so that she couldn't get out. He cast a warming and drying spell over her but her skin was still ice-cold. He took off the wet t-shirt and put her into some of her sweatpants. Before he put a shirt on her, he healed the angry red gashes all over her arms and torso.
She was shaking badly and he was concerned about the fact that her lips were still blue. She kept flinching away from him and looking towards the corners of the room in horror.
"Shh Amira," he coaxed, "Come here."
He put one of his big wool sweaters on her, hoping it would warm her faster. He also cast another warming spell. He summoned a blanket from their bed. She shrieked and he whipped around to see what the problem was. It seemed to be the blanket that had scared her, and she had fallen off of the couch and was trying to get up and run towards the tent doors.
"Hey now," he said. He easily scooped her up and placed her back on the couch. He positioned her to be laying back against his chest so that he could hold her securely. He put the blanket over them and held her close and stroked her hair. "What's going on?"
He didn't really expect an answer. They'd been having more and more episodes like this, and she was never in her right mind. He always held her until she fell asleep and then she woke up the next morning with no memory of what had happened. This was by far the most extreme case. Draco felt completely out of his depth. He didn't know how to help her or stop these attacks from happening. He knew she felt badly, but he didn't hold it against her at all. It wasn't her fault. She had no idea what to do either.
She needed to talk to Aberforth, but it was too dangerous. Draco just prayed she would make it to seventeen. There was a concerning rise of self-injury and self-endangerment that were beginning to happen, and Draco worried that her biggest enemy was herself. He didn't know what he would do if this madness overtook her permanently.
Finally, she stopped shaking and settled down against him. She turned her face into his chest and fell asleep quickly. He breathed out a sigh of relief. He didn't want to move her yet, so he just scooted them down to lay more comfortably on the couch.
He must have dozed off because he was startled when Amira suddenly jerked upwards with a small cry.
"Hey, hey," he said, sitting up quickly and putting a hand on her arm so that she couldn't run off again. One look in her eyes told him that she was back, and this was actually her.
"Draco," she said, "What happened?"
She began to shiver again, so he pulled her back into him.
"Do you remember anything?" he asked. He tucked her head under his chin, and felt her warm breath on his neck.
"Just shadows, and being cold," she said. She held onto his shirt. He nodded.
"I found you outside, a few hours ago, you were pretty distraught." he explained. He was always unsure of how much to tell her.
"Outside?" she asked.
"You'd made your way down to a little frozen pond," he said calmly.
"Oh," she said. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," he whispered and kissed her head. "I'm just glad I found you."
"It's getting worse," she whispered. He nodded.
"We knew it would," he said, "That's okay, we just have to get through it."
He didn't feel that confident, but he didn't want to freak her out even more. She was still shivering, so Draco stood and went to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate. She accepted the mug gratefully. He had made himself one as well. He checked the time with his wand and saw that it was nearing five in the morning. When they were done, they went back to their bedroom and cuddled up together.
He felt his shoulder get wet and saw her crying silent tears.
"What is it love?" he asked, and wiped her tears away.
"I'm just scared," she admitted, "And it hurts."
"I'm sorry," he said, "I wish I could help more."
"Just hold me?" she requested. He nodded and held her tighter. The pair slept until late the next day, both exhausted from the night's events.